I'm a big fan of animals and always feature them in my books. In fact I feel I go a step further than just having them in it because I like to think they are very much part of the story. As you most likely know I am a huge planner so I like to get to know my characters before I start writing. This involves doing character sheets or bios of them which include physical attributes, quirks, goals and backstory. I do character sheets for the animals, just as I do my main characters, and try to discover their personalities. Sometimes there are elements of pets I have known but often they are entirely from my imagination and therefore, completely new to me.
I was a big fan of author Zoe Barnes who included all manner of creatures in her books and did it very well. As it was something I particularly enjoyed, and she is sadly no longer with us, I felt it was something I would like to build into my stories. I often get comments from readers about the animals in my novels so I thought I would add a page to my website. You can check that out here. It gives you information about each of the key ones from my recent books.
As pets have always featured in my life it seemed natural that they would feature in the lives of my characters. I like how my human characters learn about themselves by interacting with the animals. Sometimes they are arch enemies like Tim and Horse in It Started At Sunset Cottage or a comfort and a distraction from the harsh realities of life like Wriggly in A Family Holiday but whatever part they play I feel they bring a little something extra to the story that wouldn't otherwise be there.
Animals give us a different perspective on things. They don't get emotional unless it involves food or territory and then you'll see the fur fly but all the tiny things that us humans get caught up on never cause our pets a problem - how we look, what others think of us or where we're heading in life are replaced by them simply enjoying the moment or cleaning their genitals in public (I didn't say they were perfect). Their biggest plus is that they love us unconditionally and there is a lot we could learn from them in that respect.
I was a big fan of author Zoe Barnes who included all manner of creatures in her books and did it very well. As it was something I particularly enjoyed, and she is sadly no longer with us, I felt it was something I would like to build into my stories. I often get comments from readers about the animals in my novels so I thought I would add a page to my website. You can check that out here. It gives you information about each of the key ones from my recent books.
As pets have always featured in my life it seemed natural that they would feature in the lives of my characters. I like how my human characters learn about themselves by interacting with the animals. Sometimes they are arch enemies like Tim and Horse in It Started At Sunset Cottage or a comfort and a distraction from the harsh realities of life like Wriggly in A Family Holiday but whatever part they play I feel they bring a little something extra to the story that wouldn't otherwise be there.
Animals give us a different perspective on things. They don't get emotional unless it involves food or territory and then you'll see the fur fly but all the tiny things that us humans get caught up on never cause our pets a problem - how we look, what others think of us or where we're heading in life are replaced by them simply enjoying the moment or cleaning their genitals in public (I didn't say they were perfect). Their biggest plus is that they love us unconditionally and there is a lot we could learn from them in that respect.
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